EU opens landmark talks with Libya
EU opens landmark talks with Libya
BRUSSELS - Libya and the European Union heralded a new era in their relations Thursday, opening talks on a first-ever partnership agreement 20 years after the Lockerbie bombing made Tripoli an international pariah. The move "marks a really important moment in EU-Libya relations" since the European Commission had been working hard, External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told reporters. "We are confident that the future agreement... will not only strengthen EU-Libya relations but they will also substantially contribute to Libya's current policy of consolidating its position in the international community," she added. With luck, the talks could be finalised next year, she said. Ferrero-Waldner and representatives of the current French EU presidency represented Europe as the formal negotiations on an EU-Libya Framework Agreement, got under way in Brussels . Libyan Secretary for European Affairs Abdulati Elobeidi said that his country would "contribute definitely to an efficient partnership with the EU, as much as the EU on its side can be useful for Libya. "We are very pleased with this beginning and we are very much aspiring to the future," he added. The accord will cover political, social, economic, commercial and cultural relations between the European bloc and Libya. Ferrero-Waldner said the future agreement was "very important for the EU" as Libya was to date the only Mediterranean country with which the European Union had no contractual relations. Europeans are keen to diversify away from their strong dependence on Russian oil and gas, and see Libya, already the EU's fourth biggest oil provider, as part of a solution. The EU's three main objectives in the energy field, according to Ferrero-Waldner, were setting up a transparent regulatory framework, facilitating the energy trade and ensuring environmental protection. There was also potential for using Libya as a transit country "in an integrated regional Euro-Mediterranean energy market for electricity and gas," she added. Later talks would include transport, education, training and health, she added -- and respect for human rights will also be part of the agreement.
